brake

Everyday

1. A brake is the part of a vehicle, like a bike or car, that slows it down or stops it. tree →
2. To brake is to use the brakes to slow down or stop. tree →
3. A brake is something that slows or stops something else happening. tree →
4. A brake is also a thicket, a thick clump of bushes or small trees. tree →

In the lessons

In road safety lessons, children learn to check their bike brakes before riding and to brake early on wet or icy roads, because stopping takes longer. In science, brakes use friction to slow things down, and the energy turns into heat. Cars need a stopping distance, which is why you must never run out between parked cars. Phrases: «slam on the brakes», «put the brakes on», «brake pads».

Examples

• Check your brakes before you ride. tree →
• The driver slammed on the brakes. tree →
• Brake gently on the wet road. tree →
• Bike brakes work by friction. tree →
• The car braked suddenly at the crossing. tree →
• My brakes squeak when I stop. tree →
• Cars can't stop instantly, even with good brakes. tree →
• Mum put the brakes on the plan to buy a puppy. tree →
• The lumbering bear swung his head of hesitations and thought again; he trotted his small red eye away with him to a near-by brake. tree →

Note

Countable: a brake, brakes. Past form: braked. Homophone trap: «brake» (to stop) and «break» (to smash, or a rest) sound the same. In science: friction from the brakes turns movement energy into heat.

In Jewish tradition

An old sense of a thicket of bushes. Not found in the Tanakh here. In the primary lessons: In road safety lessons, children learn to check their bike brakes before riding and to brake early on wet or icy roads, because stopping takes longer. In science, brakes use friction to slow things down, and the energy turns into heat. Cars need a stopping distance, which is why you must never run out between parked cars. Phrases: «slam on the brakes», «put the brakes on», «brake pads».

Note

Countable: a brake, brakes. Past form: braked. Homophone trap: «brake» (to stop) and «break» (to smash, or a rest) sound the same. In science: friction from the brakes turns movement energy into heat.

Early Modern English

Meaning

Broke into pieces. tree →

Then and now

Today "brake" means the part that stops a vehicle. Here it is an old form of broke, and in one sentence it means a thicket.

Examples

• The spring flood was lifting the ice covering, which brake into a thousand pieces. (Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen) tree →
• The lumbering bear swung his head of hesitations and thought again; he trotted his small red eye away with him to a near-by brake. (Irish Fairy Tales) tree →
• Gold! gold!' he shouted, again holding the glass aloft, that it might flash in the sunshine; but his hand trembled, and the alchymic glass fell from it, clattering to the ground, and brake in a thousand pieces. (Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen) tree →

Note

Today: broke.